We fielded better than Chennai, says Harbhajan

In a contest that went right down to the wire, Mumbai Indians off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said his team could sneak away with an eight-run win by fielding better than rivals Chennai Super Kings in their IPL match in Mumbai.

"To be honest when we started (to field) we did speak about that we might be 10-15 runs short. Lot of credit to the way we fielded today. We saved about 20-odd runs. That's what we discussed when we were about to go for fielding," Harbhajan, who was named man of the match for his haul of 5/18, said.

"If we compare what we did better than Chennai I feel we fielded much better. I think fielding was the main reason we won today. We know how strong a side they are. It's always nice to beat a strong opposition," he added.

The India spin spearhead felt that the stupendous forward-diving catch by gangling West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard to cut short Michael Hussey's essay probably turned the match his side's way.

"Look at the way he (Pollard) took that brilliant catch off Hussey, probably that was the turning point in the game. There onwards, everyone chipped in, Rohit (Sharma) took that great catch (of Super Kings skipper M S Dhoni). Hussey and Dhoni; when they get going any target will look small," he pointed out.

About his own contribution to the victory, Harbhajan Singh said when sometimes a player fails to get even one wicket, taking five was great but he wished it counted in his Test statistics.

"I am happy we won and I contributed with the ball. To be honest, it's nice to get five wickets as it's difficult to get one wicket sometimes. But I wish these wickets will count in my Test cricket stats. That would be nice, another five-wicket haul in Test cricket," said the star bowler and member of India's victorious World Cup squad under Dhoni.

He also conceded he was lucky with at least one wicket, that of Aniruda Srikkanth, who smashed his full toss to the deep mid-wicket fielder.